Module 1 – Familiarize yourself with capstone portfolios

🔍Overview

In this module, you begin your journey toward an online portfolio by browsing portfolios from the previous semester. In doing so, you will learn what you might like in a portfolio, become familiar with the key features of portfolios, and begin to form ideas for your own portfolio. We know you’re looking forward to getting started, and these activities are designed to help you do just that. We look forward to getting to know you and seeing the capstone portfolio you’ll create!

In this week’s video, you’ll meet Spencer Greenhalgh, one of the Teaching Assistants for this course. Spencer will introduce himself, overuse the word “exciting,” and battle a train for audio supremacy. Somewhere in there, he will also tell you about Module 1 and what you’re expected to do to complete it!

Some quick reminders:

Always feel free to contact us with any questions using the “Contact Us” link at the top of the menu.

Make sure to start early on each module and don’t wait until right before the due date!

Missions in this module are due by May 22nd (at or before 11:59pm Eastern Time). We encourage you to begin early in the week – it is not possible to complete the entire module at the last minute.

💎Shinies

In the Shinies section of each module, you’ll find useful information and hidden gems, and we’ll explain our thinking behind each module. That is, nothing in the “Shinies” section will ever be “required” reading each week, but there will be good stuff that will help provide a richer educational experience.

What are “Shinies?”

In the Capstone Course, we mean “shinies” to be useful, good information. The term, however, comes from a more colloquial source. [Read more about it here]

Why look at past portfolios?

The main activity in this module will be to look at portfolios from the previous semester. Why do this? There are several reasons. [Read more about it here]

Why do we group students into houses?

Students in the Capstone Course are placed in virtual houses: groups of people who routinely give helpful feedback. [Read more about it here]

What are the results of the survey?

The results of the introductory survey may help you see where you are relative to the rest of the class (you’re not alone!). [Read more about it here]

Why is the course designed the way it is?

There are any number of ways (perhaps an infinite number!) to design a course such as this one. We’ve chosen an open education approach in which the course is open to the world and built from many different pieces of technology. Why did we do this? [Read more about the rationale for the design of the course.]

Should I turn in partial work or wait until I am done?

In this class, it is better to get something for a Mission posted on time (like a draft of your résumé) and to improve upon it as we go than to wait for everything to be perfect. There will be time to revise and improve later. [Read more about it here]

🔗Mission 1

Overview—Learning about portfolios

In this Mission, you will learn about portfolios by viewing the portfolios created by students who have already finished this course. You will then email the creator of one of these portfolios and share the email on this page with our class. You will do this in the following four steps (some of which involve a few sub-steps):

Survey past portfolios

View at least 10 portfolios to get a good idea of what past students have created. We recommend that you click randomly throughout the list so that every student from the semester has an equal chance to be showcased (rather than just the first 10). Spend an hour or so doing this activity.

Look for portfolios that: (a) are closest to your own background and experiences, (b) have nice features or thoughts that you might wish to incorporate in your own work, (c) have a résumé that looks the way you’d like yours to look (be sure to pay close attention to the résumés because one of your first Missions will be to create one of your own), and (d) have a substantial amount of work linked from the showcase page.

Write lots of notes to yourself. Take notes about things you like about the portfolios and specific ideas you’d like to emulate in your own portfolio. You will no doubt also see some things that do not appeal to you, such as color choices, readability of text, navigation, use of photos, and so on. Design tastes vary, so be thinking about your ‘style’ and ‘voice’ as you begin sketching out how you want your web portfolio to look. You will use these notes when you discuss this experience with your housemates.

Take a poll

Now that you’ve surveyed the portfolios from the previous semester and chosen your favorite, it’s time to tell us which one you chose and why. Click here to take the poll.

Email the author of your favorite portfolio

Email the person whose portfolio you selected (their contact information should be on their website somewhere). Make sure you write in your own voice.

Please make sure you you put “Capstone Portfolio Course” in the subject line and include “capstone_instructors@matt-koehler.com” in the “cc:” line of your email. If a “cc:” line is not available, copy the text of your email and send it to us at “capstone_instructors@matt-koehler.com” in a second email.

You may begin by saying something like “Hello, I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because…” (They will have done this Mission themselves and will thus understand the Mission and appreciate the honor of being selected).

Continue on to say a few nice but specific and substantive things about what you like about the design of their site. You should also ask them how they learned to publish on the Web, what they would recommend for you as you begin your work, etc. This serves as an expression of appreciation to this person for sharing, but the act of crafting a thoughtful email about why you selected this portfolio is also a good way for you to reflect on your aspirations for your portfolio. This should also offer you some good insight and help for this course. As a general rule, this email should be a good 2-3 paragraphs long with specific praise and genuine questions.

Important – Save a copy of this email. We are going to ask you to share it in the comments in the next mission.

Post your email as a comment

The goal for this is to let others see which portfolio you selected and how you communicated your appreciation to the creator of that portfolio.

Under “Leave a Reply,” on THIS page (just below the Powerups), you will add (as a comment) a modified copy of the email you sent the to author of your favorite portfolio.

Paste you email, but before submitting it, remove any identifying information. For example, replace “Dear Suzie” with “Dear —–“, or delete any names entirely.

Once you have removed any identifying information from your comment, submit it.

Your comment will be held for moderation (we need to approve comments to fight the spammers), so it won’t show up immediately.

If you use your MSU email address, your comment will automatically be posted with the Gravatar you provided in Module 0.

🔗Mission 2

Surprise! There is no Mission 2!

There typically will be more than one Mission per module, so we included this tab so that you can get used to checking it. However, this week, you luck out: There’s nothing to do here.

📊Grades

Grading rubric for this module

Each Mission in this course is important for developing your abilities to design and implement your portfolio. Recall that there are 100 total points assigned in this course; the specific Mission(s) in this module will count towards your grade as follows:

Advice and help about course grades

Check grades early and often! This will help you understand your progress in the course and will help us correct any errors as soon as possible.

Pay attention to how each module is graded. We provide details about the grading rubric for each module.

Understand the late work policy. If you know you’re going to be late, contact us ahead of time and ask for a (reasonable) extension. Otherwise, work is accepted up to 48 hours late with 1/2 credit. The full policy is detailed in the syllabus.

🌟Powerups

Here you will regularly find information about “Powerups”—these are features, technologies, or pages that you add to your portfolio based upon what best suits you and your audience. Over the semester, you will add three Powerups to your portfolio before the course is over. In Module 1, make sure that you:

Hello,
I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because the visual design was appealing and grabbed my attention. I also found your site to be very easy to navigate with the tabs and drop down menus across the top. I teach 3rd grade and I really enjoyed seeing the pictures of your classroom which gave me a feel for your teaching philosophy. I saw a lot of similarities in our teaching styles; one in particular is the use of the Daily 5.
Did you have experience with publishing on the web before taking the capstone course? I am a little concerned with remembering everything I have done in all of my masters courses because I started the program in 2011. Do you have any advice for the “showcase” and “annotated transcript” pieces that would be helpful for me? How did you go about picking the pieces that would be showcased?

Hi!
I’m taking the Capstone portfolio course this semester and the professor asked us to choose a portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours for a few reasons! The design is fun and it caught my eye, it was organized in a way that made navigating very easy. Also, it seems like you take pride in your website and it is updated often!
The design of the main page of your site really caught my attention. The colors are fun, its extremely organized and I can tell what it’s all about by just taking a quick once over.
It seems like you have a really good handle on how to design a website. Did you consider other platforms when you first started in the course? I am leaning towards using WIX for creating my portfolio also. I am a little concerned about the difficulty of creating a website. I’m not great with technology so I was wondering how difficult it was to create your portfolio? Did you have access to any tech support through Wix? Also, now that your portfolio is done, would you have done anything differently along the way?
I really appreciate your help!
Thanks!
Danielle Krebs

Hello, I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course this summer at MSU, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because it was so easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing!

I noticed that only some of the educators had a page about their classroom, and yours in particular had lots of photos of student work and your students. I think this is the best way to get to know a teacher and their practice.

I also appreciated how colorful and organized your portfolio is. I found it easy to scan your work because you included only snippets of information on the main pages, with links to more. I thought this was a smart choice because the reader is not instantly overwhelmed by a wall of text.

Had you created websites like this before? I’ve never used Weebly for site creation, but I really like the way yours turned out visually. Would you recommend Weebly or another site? Were there unforseen challenges or a steep learning curve for Weebly?

I’d appreciate any advice you have for me as I start the portfolio creation process, because I consider yours to be top-notch!

Hello, I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because I loved the format/layout and color choices you used! Your website was very user friendly; I had no trouble navigating through your site. I also loved how you included photos of your classroom and organized them into categories which was thoughtful.

I am curious, why did you choose Wix to create your website? Have you used it in the past? Was it easy to use or comparable to making a Weebly? I have used Weebly in the past and it was pretty user friendly. I also enjoyed how you chose a few samples of your work and not too many. That really helped continue the organized, clean, simple layout you have chosen! Any advice for the capstone course would be greatly appreciated! I look forward to hearing from you! Thank you in advance!

Hello Jessica,
My name is Megan Patrick and I am currently enrolled in Capstone Portfolio Course at Michigan State University and our professor asked us to look at some portfolios from previous classes.
After looking at some of the other portfolios, I kept coming back to yours for a couple of reasons. Even prior to taking this class, I was using Wix to create an online portfolio and as it turns out we chose the same theme, which makes me think we might have some of the same tastes in terms of layout, font and other aesthetics.
Overall, I really loved the content you had on your page. When I was browsing through all of the pages I was really surprised at how many pictures there are in the “Who I Am” section (not just yours, but other portfolios as well). I guess I’ve never really thought about uploading personal pictures onto a portfolio where I am showcasing my professional work. Is this something that you chose to do or was it a requirement in the class? If you chose to do it, have you had any comments on the page from employers?
I also really like how you set up your Showcase with the links and the even the icons. I know that I have a ton of work that I want to have on my showcase and I just like how clean yours is and how it’s easy to navigate.
Do you have any helpful advice for creating the annotated transcript?

In our first week of Capstone Portfolio Course, our professors have asked us to look at past portfolios. As I looked through many different ones, yours stood out to me the most. My previous work from the MAET program has been done on a Weebly website and I plan on using that same website to create and add onto my past work for my portfolio, which is also why I choose your portfolio as a good model for mine.

First off, I like the visual appeal and design as soon as you enter your site. It is simple and to the point, not too busy, helping the reader focus on your skills and strengths. Not that it may be needed, but I like how you included to follow the menu to help navigate. I find this important for people who may not be familiar with Weebly or how your portfolio is set up. The “home page” has a welcoming and inviting feel to grab the attention of your readers right away. It also helps that it is linked to your “About Me” page to give the reader a better sense of who you are. I feel that the graphics on your pages also help provide a visual representation of who you are as an individual and as an educator. They also help represent the work you have created.

Your portfolio was very easy to navigate. Strong organization is a big part on how I want to set up my portfolio, so that feature definitely caught my eye on yours. I did not feel lost or confused at all while going through everything. I especially like how you have used subpages within the main pages to help organize all of your materials. Your resume is also another example of good organizational skills. As you were putting that together what things stood out to you to add to yours to make it different or unique compared to other people?

The presentation of your showcase is detailed and specific of things you have learned and implemented from the program into your teaching. How did you know what to choose to showcase? Did you feel strongly about some projects versus others?

Are there any suggestions or tips for using Weebly and creating a portfolio on there? What thing did you find to be the hardest? Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated.

Dear —
My name is Alicia Betz and I am a current student in the capstone course at Michigan State. As I was looking at portfolios as part of our first assignment, I was really drawn to yours! I really like the way it is designed and the look it has to it. I also love how you included quotes on each page- I have a quote of the day in my classroom and I always love finding new quotes. I also really like the way you designed your showcase! It’s simple, yet substantial, and easy to understand.

I think that your site has a really clean design and is very easy to navigate, which is something that i think we take for granted as consumers of sites, but don’t realize how hard that can be to accomplish in designing a site. What difficulties did you face in designing your site? I also love how the pictures on your main page also serve as links to different parts of your site.

One question I have for you is how you liked using Wix overall. Originally, I was planning on using Weebly for my portfolio because it’s a platform that I’m familiar with, but I’ve seen a lot of great portfolios using Wix. Was this your first time using Wix and did you enjoy working with it?

Any tips you could give as I create my online portfolio and work through the course would be greatly appreciated!

Hi! I am taking the capstone course and I really like your layout. I like how everything was easy to navigate and how the colors were really calming and not over powering. I also love polka dots, so I liked all the dots you used.
I am kind of getting overwhelmed because it looks like a lot. I noticed on your annotated transcript that your instructors were listed. Were those easy to find?
I enjoyed the pictures on your classroom page to see into your room (especially the narwhal).
From what I can tell you created the site using wix.com. What made you pick that type of site? I’ve used weebly, but it looks like wix has some cool options. Was it user friendly? What are the pros and cons you experienced with the site? Thank you so much for your time, and great job!
Kindest regards,
Rebecca

Hello, happy Monday! I am currently taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and I am sure you remember the beginning when you had to look at portfolios from the past class. I did that and yours was one that stuck out to me the most! It could have been the instant connection I felt when I saw you were a first grade teacher like myself or maybe it was that picture with sparty that I liked so much. Overall it was the photos in your portfolio that I appreciated the most. They made your portfolio feel very personal and I learned a lot about what a great teacher you must be through them. I also liked all the visuals that you included within your resume and throughout your entire portfolio. It may be a first grade teacher thing but I love it and I think future employers will too!

I do not have much technology in my room and like you my masters is concentrating in literacy education. With that being said how did you learn to publish on the web? For my generation I am not very good with technology and need help with anything that involves creating something using technology or the web. I am not up on the latest and greatest things to use for this class and that worries me. You have the word innovator on your page and I want to learn more about how you became this way within education. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. You included so many great slide shows, student work, a resume, and more and I want to be able to do the same!

Lastly, what are any helpful tips that you have for this course? Although I will not be teaching full time while I take this class I will be teaching summer school as well as working my second and third jobs. I am always wondering how people find the balance to give everything to all they have. You did am amazing job putting in creativity and so much of yourself into making your portfolio and I hope to so the same, with some of your advice.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my email and I look forward to hearing from you!
Amber LaPerriere

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most, as you probably remember from your first week in this course! I chose yours. I viewed several portfolios, but your style and organization jumped out at me. You had all the contents others had such as photos, your resume, the transcript, and a photo gallery of your classroom. You have all of these aspects, however you managed to put it in a way that did not look cluttered and was easy to navigate. It looks well done and would impress any future employers.

I have to note that I love your bulletin board where students were encouraged to make mistakes, and you hung it up to show they were trying and use that as a conversation piece for a learning opportunity. What a safe environment to learn!

I feel a bit intimidated after viewing all of these portfolios, they look high tech and time consuming. Did you go into this class with an advanced technology background or did you learn along the way? What advice would you give to do well in this course?

Thank you so much for sharing your work and time! Have a wonderful summer!

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. After looking at many portfolios, I chose yours because I found it very well organised and professional. I really enjoyed reading about you and the diversity of your experiences and I felt that we had a lot in common in teaching students from many different backgrounds. Like you, I came into teaching as a second career and have taught in many different private schools. I love your choice of photos and how they show the diversity of your experiences and your energy!

I also felt that the design of your website was very professional, and easy to navigate. All the areas that are also important to me were clearly evident in the menu and tabs. I noticed that you chose Wix.com as your platform. Although I have used weebly and wordpress before, I have never designed a website on Wix. Did you find this platform easy to use, and had you used it before or was this your first time? I also loved how you chose different icons for your different sections, were these icons readily available on the site or did you have to locate them from somewhere else?

I would also appreciate it if you could share any tips or advice you would give in designing the portfolio.
Thank you for taking the time to read this email and I look forward to hearing from you!

How are you doing? It has been too long since we last spoke. Let me start by saying congrats on receiving your masters degree from MSU. We will have to catch up soon but the purpose of this e-mail is because I liked your online portfolio the best out of the ones I looked at. I am not just saying that because I know you from the past either! You honestly did a very nice job.

I really like the layout of your home page. I feel it is really easy to navigate and it has a lot of nice pictures that go along with things about yourself. It even has one of your famous name puns! Your color scheme is pleasant and it is easy to see and read the font colors and styles you chose. I believe all of these things are very essential to a good portfolio. I did not take the time to read everything you have in there since there is a lot included in your portfolio but I don’t know if a potential employer would read the whole thing either. I find first impressions are very important and your portfolio excels at that! The different pieces I did read from your portfolio were well written but I could see right from the get go that your portfolio was a winner.

I was wondering if you could give me some tips on where I could begin my portfolio. I am not familiar with WIX but I noticed a lot of students seemed to use it. I plan on checking it out in modulo two since I have only really used “weebly” in the past. Was it easy to learn how to publish on the web using WIX? I have not really done anything like this since our TE class together 5 years ago. Time flies!

Thanks again for your help and great job on your portfolio. I look forward to hearing back from you!

My name is Jackie and I am currently taking the Capstone Portfolio Course for the MAET Program! Our professor asked us to choose our favorite portfolio from last semester’s class and have a conversation via email with them. I related to your portfolio most due to the fact that you used Weebly to display what you have learned in this program. Having a mathematics background, I always find myself creating a very linear, simple design when creating websites. I really like how you consistently used pictures and detailed descriptions of everything you added to your portfolio. The resume that you embedded had a great design and stands out from the typical resume that you see. Do you mind sharing what resource you used to create it? The last aspect that stuck out to me was your “Tech Tips” page. It is SO helpful and a great resources to other educators!

Before starting this course, did you have experience creating and designing websites? I have creating many classroom websites and projects for other MAET classes using Weebly. Because of this, I am also choosing to create my portfolio using Weebly. Do you have any suggestions on how to design the layout or formatting of the portfolio? Is there a certain way that you grouped each requirement?

I appreciate all of your help and suggestions for successfully completing this course!

I am currently taking “Capstone Portfolio” course through MSU and I have been instructed to notify a person (from a given list) who has an impressive portfolio. Not only is your portfolio organized, but the credentials that you have are diverse and impressive. I appreciate the fact that your education and experiences are diverse and this reminds me of what my own portfolio would look like.

Seeing as this is just a reply page, I would be incredibly grateful if you could reply back to the above email so I could actually prove that I sent something.

Hi, I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours for many reasons! First, I really liked how clean and neat it was. The design of each page simple yet tasteful and not too “fluffy” as to distract from the importance of the portfolio. I liked how you laid out your resume, linked to your MAET WordPress Blog so we could see all your past work, and also added a tech tips page for other educators. I’ve got to ask, was that part of the requirements of the course to add that page? If not, I may want to borrow that idea too! Lastly, I really liked all the pictures and titles on each page. Where did you find all of those pictures for your headers on each page? TECHfolio was a fun play on words and caught my eye right away! Your portfolio is so professional looking and I like its usability in the real world for others as well to showcase all of your work and skills with technology. Do you have any advice for me on how to be successful in this course? If you could have done anything a second time, what would you have budgeted more time on?

Thank you for an awesome portfolio! It really gets me excited to start mine,

Hello,
I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours based on the quality of information and the visual appeal. I was instantly drawn in by how easy it was to navigate and the personal touches you included.

One specific element of your portfolio that I appreciated was the clear passion for teaching you demonstrated throughout the site. The fact you call yourself a “student advocate” on the home page says it all I think! You clearly love teaching and working with students and I am confident that whatever teaching position you fall into, you will have a great impact on your students.

I saw that you used WiX to create your portfolio and I was wondering what your thoughts were regarding this resource? I have never used tool before but was very impressed with the quality and visual appeal it appears to provide. How easy was it to use? Would you recommend others to use it or would you choose to use something else next time?

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at a variety of portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because I like the design, your font choices, and the easy of finding information and navigating your site. I also really like your “home page” which has both the traditional tool bar across the top but also has the fun bubbles which makes it more appealing and ‘fun’ to explore. Having the bubbles, is a nice separation to tell your reader about you personally and professionally. Your portfolio was not overly loaded with images or information that would distract readers from the great content that you added. Lastly, I really like your powerful quote at the bottom of your home page.

As I prepare for the course and making my own online portfolio, I had some questions I was hoping you’d be able to answer.

-How did you learn to make this site and publish on the Web? Did you use tutorials? DId your MSU instructors provide tips or an expected outline? Through trial and error?
-What would you suggest I should do in order to get started? What challenges should I expect through this process that could be avoided in the future?

Any help or suggestions you have for making it as seamless and effective as possible would be appreciated! Thank you for your time and great job on your portfolio!

Hello ____,
I am currently enrolled in the Capstone Portfolio Course at MSU. Our professors asked us to look at some portfolios from previous classes and select one that we could connect with. I went through every portfolio and I found yours to be very intriguing! The design is unusual which made me want to look further. I do not know you, however your website shows your personality: creative, techie, fun, and professional. This is a feeling that I would like for my site to show as well.

I love how you set up the showcase on your website. Breaking the sections down by what you envision for the future, how you enable educators, and how you engage and inspire students and teachers to use technology helps your audience know what you were trying to accomplish through the activities that are listed underneath. I also love the format of your essay pages. They are not traditional. They read more like a newsletter with headers, quotes and images added. This provides a very personal feel.

I am a middle school technology teacher and an instructional coach for educators in my district. As an Educational Technologist I believe you will be able to offer suggestions to make my website as dynamic as yours as I go through this process.

I know this is a busy time of year, however I was hoping that you might be able to provide some guidance as I create my portfolio this summer. Currently I have created a draft using WordPress. What made you decide to use Wix? I have used several platforms to create websites, however am not familiar with Wix. I am just wondering if it is worth my time to switch to something new? In addition, did your portfolio help you land your current job?

Do you mind if I contact you throughout my capstone course for feedback and ideas? I appreciate your consideration and am looking forward to your response.

Hello,
I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. After looking through 10+ portfolios and seeing many with the same format, I came across yours which stood out to me! I found the visual design of your portfolio very appealing and it was easy to navigate your site. A unique feature of your website is how you chose to organize your information within the boundaries of student, person, and educator. What a great way to capture the many roles of a teacher! Also, the wordle collages were a nice touch to each of the main pages.
After looking at many of the well-done portfolios, I am a little nervous about the amount of time and work that went in to creating them. With the end of the school year fast approaching, is there anything you would recommend I do soon while I still have my students so I am prepared to complete the portfolio pieces? Also, I noticed that you and many others chose to use wix.com to create their portfolio. I am only familiar with weebly, but I am interested in how easy wix was to use? Do you have any other advice for me about this course?
Thank you for taking the time to take my questions and for sharing your awesome work. I look forward to hearing back from you! Enjoy the remaining weeks until summer:)

I am currently taking the Capstone Course for my MAED program at MSU. We were asked to look at portfolios from last semester and pick the one we liked the best. I chose your portfolio for several reasons. First, I love the aesthetics of your portfolio. It is superbly organized, the colors contrast nicely and the font is easy to read and professional. The overall organization of the portfolio is very well laid out. I like how you organized the annotated transcript. It’s very easy to see the highlights of each course you took and the organization of it is very professional-looking.

I was wondering if you had any tips for me as I begin this course. It looks like wix was a good website to use, was it pretty easy to learn? I hadn’t heard of that website before visiting your portfolio. Was there anything the challenged you or surprised you when you were using that website?

Finally, is there anything you wish you had known before you started your Capstone course? I am excited to begin my last semester of the MAED program!

Thanks for all your help, and I hope your school semester is finishing up nicely!

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course. The professor asked us to email the person with the portfolio that we liked the best. I chose your portfolio because I really liked how easy it was to navigate through your page. I was able to find anything I was looking for on your page with ease. I also appreciated the aesthetic of your web page. I found it to be engaging and not overwhelming with images and graphics.

How did you build your web page? I have very limited experience in this field and I was hoping that you would be able to lend some advice to a novice web page builder. I noticed you chose to use Wix. What did you like most about this most about using Wix opposed to any other options? Were there any aspects that you found to be more challenging then others? If so, which aspects? How did you find it best to learn to build a web page? What would you recommend for me in the beginning phases of building my own web page?

I appreciate any feedback and answers you can provide to me as I embark on my own web page journey while in the Capstone Portfolio Course. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing back!

Hello!
I am currently enrolled in CEP807 as the last course for my Master of Arts in Educational Technology degree. One of our first assignments was to look at previous student portfolios and contact the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because I found it to be visually appealing and also extremely organized and easy to navigate.

One of the first things that I noticed were your “Follow Me” buttons at the bottom of your home page. As an educator who is not only hoping to increase her own online presence but also reach out to stakeholders in new and innovative ways, I found this to be a very valuable addition to an online portfolio. I am already looking forward to linking my current online presence within my future online portfolio.

Another aspect of your portfolio that I found worthwhile was your selection of sample projects and lessons from your classroom. The layout was really inviting. How did you decide which lessons and projects to include? I think that having a focus on your personal classroom in addition to your Masters work can demonstrate for stakeholders your commitment to not only your personal learning, but also to that of your students.

I noticed you used Wix to create your site. How much background knowledge did you have of the program prior to creating your portfolio? I assumed I would use WordPress since I already post a personal classroom blog to the site, but I really liked the look and feel of what I saw in your and other portfolios created with Wix. I have limited experience with web design from my last class when I created a fully-online course through Haiku. How user-friendly was the design process? Where/who did you go to for assistance?

I’m really excited to begin my final class for my degree, and am looking forward to designing my online portfolio. If you have any helpful hints or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for your time, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your school year!

Hi,
I’m taking the Capstone Portfolio Course in MSU’s MAED program. The professor asked us to look at portfolios of previous classes and choose our favorite. I looked at several portfolios and chose yours because of its overall design and organization. What really stood out to me was how you organized your site into “Person, Student, and Educator.” I think this gave your portfolio a unique aspect. Additionally, your site was very easy to navigate. I like how you can view the subpages by hovering the mouse over the title pages or you can click on the titles and there are links to the subpages there as well. I teach 6th grade math and science so it was fun to look at the pictures of your classroom since we teach similar classes.

I have created a few websites in the past, but have only used Weebly. I would like to branch out and try some other platforms. How easy was WiX to use? Now that you have created your portfolio, is there anything you would do differently? Is there anything you would recommend I prepare before summer break while I still have students? Do you have any other advice for this process?

Thank you in advance for your response and for sharing your work!
Kelly Ohlsson

Hello, I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours for a few reasons. One of the first reasons your portfolio stood out to me was the formatting and layout. I was able to easily navigate through your website to find information and learn more about your professional and personal life. Your resume was also formatted in a way similar to my current resume and provided information in an organized way.

Professionally, your documents are well written and I also connected to earning your MAED. I’ve found that in many of these course I’ve taken, I find myself surrounded by more MATC or MAET and found pleasure in knowing there was fellow MAED student wrapping up their program a semester before me. You also spoke about the MAED motto: “come prepared to learn, leave prepared to lead”. This quote in your goal reflection essay designated with me as my program comes to an end. I too entered this program with the goal of becoming a better teacher and feel that my courses have prepared me to implement innovative instruction and best-practices in 21st century learning in my classroom.

It seems like you have a passion for teaching both inside and outside the classroom, as seen in personal photos in your “about me” page. Your quote “Every child should have a caring adult in their lives. And that’s not always a biological parent or family member. It may be a friend or neighbor. Often times it is a teacher” by Joe Manchin reminds me about the philosophy that my principal has bestowed on us as her staff – “we love the kids first and teach them second”. Making connections with students is so important in building a solid foundation for success. By providing our students with a positive and motivating school atmosphere, students feel the love and support to perform at their best.

A few questions for you: I noticed you used Wix for your portfolio. Have you worked with Weebly at all and if so, how does it compare to Wix? I’ve created many websites with Weebly and feel that it’s user friendly – I’m curious if Wix is worth looking into for my portfolio work for this capstone course. Secondly, do you have an helpful tips for success in the capstone course? I’m sure hindsight provides great insight and you could provide wise recommendations as I begin my semester.

I am writing to you as a current student in a Michigan State Capstone Portfolio course. For our first assignment our instructor asked us to review past portfolios to get inspiration for the portfolio we will create throughout the course. We were also asked to contact the creator of the portfolio we liked the most, which is why I am contacting you today.

There are several things that drew me to your portfolio such as the clear organization of your website, as well as the way you integrated your many ‘identities’ (you as a teacher, a student, and an educational professional) so seamlessly. I want to make my portfolio a representation of my many interests and viewing your website showed me that is possible. I also liked that I could see your personality shine through, which made me feel like I was getting to know you as a person, not just someone far away on the internet. This is also something I want my website visitors to experience.

When you have time, I would really appreciate you answering a few of my questions. As someone who has successfully completed this course, what advice would you give to me? Now that you have a completed portfolio, is there anything you wish you had done differently or would go back and change? During this semester I will be finishing my teaching school year and also taking on summer projects and jobs. How much time would you suggest I make sure to set aside for this course? I want to make sure I plan for enough time to produce quality work. Finally, were there any unexpected technology challenges that you came across? I would really appreciate your insights since, in my experience, website creating software can be glitchy and unexpected challenges can pop up.
Thank you very much, I look forward to hearing from you!

Hello,
I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because you were able to organize it in a manner that was easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing. I thought that using buttons in your pages as links to various parts of your portfolio made it look clean cut and neat. In addition, I thought that it was a really nice touch to add various pictures of you and your family (your dogs’ jerseys are adorable); I think this gives the portfolio a nice touch and makes it a bit more personable to third party viewers. I feel like I got a decent idea of who you are as a person and an educator from simply being on your website.
One question I had had to deal with the site that you used in order to create your portfolio, wix.com. Why did you choose this site as opposed to the other options? Did you find this site to be user friendly? I would be interested to know how it compares to Weebly, as that is the only one that I am particularly familiar with. I also would be interested in knowing whether or not you had in difficulties in particular with the site, as I know Weebly has some drawbacks. I also thought that it was nice that Wix seemed to let you post your resume directly to the site without any formatting issues.
I really appreciate your example. Thanks for your time.
Brittany Smithkort

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course and the professor asked us to look at past portfolios. We were then asked to email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours for a variety of reasons. I really enjoyed the extra effort that your put into your additional resources. Your home page immediately caught my attention, especially the picture. I feel like may of them look serious right off the bat, but yours looks like you have fun and sets a tone for your website.

Your unit about the physics sportscaster was really interesting and I enjoyed the different ways that you made it interesting and interactive for students. The other examples were intriguing as well! I have done a few iMovie trailers on books (I teach language arts) and I enjoyed look at at War Horse and Finding Zasha. One other portion of your website that I enjoyed was your essays that you posted. I felt they were very honest and it was great to read about your journey and see similarities and differences between what I have felt and thought over the years and my teaching journey.

I do have a few questions, as I am just beginning this course. Did you enjoy using Weebly? How did you learn to publish on the web? Do you have any recommendations for me as I begin my work? Do you have recommendations on the different ways to walk through the process of designing it? What part of the capstone was most challenging or took the most time?

Thank you very much for making your website available for viewing. You have created one that caught my eye and included so many unique features from the layout to extra details that are very informative. I look forward to hearing from you!
Meg Zastrow

My name is Julie Rigling and I am currently taking the Capstone Course for my MAET degree. As you know within our first week of the class, we need to look through the previous students’ portfolios and choose the one we liked the best. I really enjoyed looking through all of the portfolios to see the different styles and formats, but I felt a particular connection with your website.

I loved how organized and well thought out each part was when looking at your page. The pictures within the bubbles were nice, and being able to open them to get a closer look was a great feature! I thought each of the snapshots showing different aspects of your personal life and professional life were very unique. Another part that I enjoyed viewing was the classroom blog you had attached to one of the pages on your site. Did you create the blog before this course? Do you find it useful to use a blog with your students? I like the idea behind a blog, and I am wondering how often my students would use it.

Another reason why I chose your site was because you used Wix. I have used Weebly and WordPress in the past, and I wanted to try something new. Was it difficult to learn how to format Wix? Have you used other websites that were more user-friendly? Did you find that the website tools were helpful or frustrating? What would you recommend starting with when working on this portfolio?

I can’t wait to hear back from you and get started on my own portfolio. I can tell that you put a lot of thought and work into this project, and it looks very professional!

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because initially when looking through yours I found it to be very aesthetically pleasing, and as an Art Teacher and designer that is one of my first things I look at when I visit sites like yours. The layout, color choices (pops of color on a blank background), and other relating really pulled me into your website. After going through and looking at your layout I then started to go through our sites organization and display of information. Like the aesthetics, I really thought your information given was great too! I especially liked your showcase of all that you have done, it was very impressive!

I myself use Weebly for my own school online art gallery, linked here (http://wmsartgallery.weebly.com), so I have some experience in web page design, but have never herd of Wix before. Was it easy to use? Is it just a drag and drop style of web page design or is it more complicated then that? After reviewing all the things you did with your online portfolio I would love emulate yours when I do own portfolio page but would love to hear a little more about how Wix works, that is if you have the time!

anyway congrats for finishing your capstone work and thanks for taking the time to read this email!

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because I thought it looked professional yet very welcoming. Of all the online portfolios I have viewed, yours was the only one to separate your site into “person”, “student” and “educator” sections. It differentiated yours from others. I liked how this guided visitors to specific parts of your life, since not everyone will be entering your site for the same reason.

We have all completed so many creative assignments during our journey through MAET, how did you decide which ones to include in your showcase?

I have used WordPress and Weeby in the past but never Wix so I was wondering what strengths and limitations you have found with Wix? If you have had experience with WordPress and Weeby, how would you compare the three?

Great job on your portfolio and thank you in advance for your time.
Ryan

Hello,
I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours for a few reasons. At first glance, I really liked how your portfolio was set up visually and organizationally, and that was what made me want to look more closely. I also noticed that, while we do teach different content areas, we both teach high school and I saw some similar features that are applicable to the high school level in your classroom description and lesson examples. Those similarities stood out to me and gave me some ideas for what I would like to add or alter in my current portfolio. I liked that you had a clear homepage with links to the other significant areas, in addition to your menu of pages. I think that makes the portfolio that much easier to navigate.
I noticed that you used Wix, and that was another reason that I chose yours. I currently use Weebly, but I have been interested in exploring Wix more, so I thought that your structure would serve as a good model. I was wondering how you ended up selecting Wix? Did you ever use any other portfolio template or platform? What have you found about Wix that stood out the most about it to you? In looking through your portfolio, I noticed that you completed the MAET and I can tell that you embed a lot of technology in your classroom practices and procedures. I was wondering if that was something you have always worked to do or if it was through your MAET work that you began working with technology more in your classroom. Also, do you have any cool suggestions for technology in the classroom?! I noticed you use Quizlet, I do too, and I really like it!
I really enjoyed exploring your portfolio. I could connect to a lot of what you shared about your classroom experiences, but also to what you discussed in your showcase, particularly your Leadership section. Overall, I thought your portfolio was very well put together. I appreciate being able to use it as a resource.
Thanks!
Madelyn Morris

Hello *****,
My name is Melody Waite and I am currently taking ED 870 – Capstone here at MSU. As you probably remember, our first task was to view prior students’ portfolios and choose our favorite. I am emailing to you to let you know yours was my favorite!
I choose yours for its overall visual aesthetic, design, and organization of content. I also could relate to your experience, although, I am not currently teaching, I was also a coach and a teacher. I taught high school Spanish and co-coached both boys and girls Cross Country (also volunteered for the Track teams).
Specifically, I love how crisp and clean each of your pages are, especially the home page. I feel this is just right balance of text and pictures, that allows for ease of navigation. Did you build this from scratch or did you already have a site set up and you just built it up? I have a basic layout that I created in CEP 840 last summer (first time really creating a webpage) using GoogleSites, but I really enjoy your layout and design. How did you choose WIX.com and did you find it easy to use?
I also enjoyed your resume. It was clean and easy to read but I love the added pictures on the side as well as the links (like linking directly to CMU’s College of Ed) – this just adds another dimension and validity to it without being distracting. Your Showcase I felt also portrayed the same feeling. How were you able to decide how many pictures, how many links, how much color, where to draw the line? Because I feel you balanced this so gracefully, I would love to have some tips to master this for my own portfolio!
Lastly, I really liked the About Me section, links to your classroom sites, and the examples of assignments as well as pictures of your classroom. This truly gives it a personal and real feeling. I feel like I have met you in person and that is a great quality for a website!
Thank you for your time and I hope you are out enjoying this beautiful weather Michigan is giving us this weekend!
Melody Waite

I am enrolled in the Capstone Portfolio Course in the MAET program at MSU and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes. After scrolling the roster lists from previous terms and looking at a few, I was drawn to your name because it was familiar. I don’t know if you remember me, but we went to _____ together. I was a year behind you. I am glad to hear everything has gone well for you…

After looking through your portfolio, there were several things I connected with. First, like you, my internship was done at a _____ high school and I was hired right out of college in a ____ district when positions are limited and funding is minimal. I was ecstatic to be able to stay near my friends and family in an area that I grew up in.

I find your online portfolio easy to navigate. Being able to subsections within each heading and click there directly is a smart move. Your showcase page is also clean but informative. Your oil change video made me laugh but I never thought how the process would be so different for lefties.

I also loved your perfect classroom you designed. Teaching in a school that is maxed out in enrollment and 35-40 students in my classroom, most of my space is used for student desks. Looking at the digital classroom you designed, it made me wonder what education would actually look like if teachers were actually able to design their physical spaces in ways that makes the most sense for their teaching.

Good work on the capstone portfolio. If you have any advice for me as I go through the process this summer I would be grateful to hear it. Congrats on finishing your masters and maybe I will run into you sometime soon!

Hello,
I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because the look was different from the other portfolios yet it was really easy to navigate. Specifically I like the layout, ease of use and visualizations provided throughout.
The layout of your page is nice since I can see all of the headings across the top. I know exactly what I am going to be looking at when entering your page. Your opening page is clean and simple, yet warm. The image you chose is crisp and the videos are energetic and nicely placed. The picture slideshow adds a nice personal touch as well. Additionally, I love that each sub heading drops down from the top and the pages open on the same screen.
Navigation aside, the pages are also very aesthetically pleasing. You choose an appropriate amount of information per pages and the pages never felt overwhelming. Your videos embedded were useful and added to your portfolio and the personal images were an enhancement. In particular, I liked the photo gallery on the opening page.
As I begin the portfolio process, I would love some input. Do you have anything in particular you would recommend that I pay attention to? What hurdles did you initially face as you created your portfolio? In addition, I plan on also using WordPress. Do you have any tips for me?
Thanks so much!
Colleen KaylColleen_kayl@yahoo.com

Hello,
I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course this semester, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most to use as a resource for our own portfolio. I chose yours because I like the way your page has organized especially the layout, ease of use and visualizations provided throughout, especially the home page that provide the opportunity to navigate through the top tabs or the bottom bubbles in the portfolio. The other reason for choosing your portfolio is that we share same teachable i.e. mathematics and also share the same interests i.e. traveling.
I enjoyed your resume and appreciated your achievements. It was clear and easy to understand. Especially I like the pictures on the side as well as the links to the page. This puts more value and attraction to the resume. Your portfolio reflects that you know your audience and the ways to catch their attention as you have successfully added the attractive background, images, pictures, and links.
Previously, I have used WordPress, Weebly, and haiku, but I have been interested in exploring Wix this time. I was just wondering that what makes you select Wix for your portfolio. What have you found about Wix that stood out the most about it to you? During your MAET journey, you have explored a lot of technologies to be used in a classroom, do you have any suggestions for technology in the classroom especially for mathematics?
Overall, your portfolio is very organized and professional looking. I appreciate your effort and being able to use it as a resource for my portfolio.

Hi,
My name is Elizabeth Stimbert and I am currently enrolled in the Capstone Portfolio Course. My first assignment is to look at portfolios from the previous classes and email the person who portfolio we liked the most. After looking at multiple portfolios, I found myself coming back to yours!
I really enjoy the layout of your site; it is very pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate! I love the pictures that go along with the content as well. I also love the colors throughout your site.
I noticed that you used wix.com. What made you pick that type of site? Was it user friendly? What are the pros and cons you experienced with the site? I have used google sites and edublogs. Any tips you can give as I create my online portfolio and work through the course would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for your time,
Elizabeth

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because it was simple, clean and easy to navigate. All of your links are easy to find and contain an enormous amount of detail which provided me with some great information about what I should expect out of the course. Furthermore, your Showcase’s page was crisp and I liked how you separated the projects that were completed on campus and remotely. Your theme to the website is warm and made me think: Is this a picture of the sun setting (because you finished your Master’s) or is it a picture of the sun rising (because you are beginning a new journey with your Master’s? Either way, the picture is beautiful and I kept coming back to it.

I do have a couple of questions for you – was there a reason that you used WordPress for your portfolio? I’ve never used it before, but am very familiar with Weebly, what are the pros of WordPress? How did you decide which projects to use in your Showcase? Do you have any tips or suggestions for succeeding in the Capstone course? Is there anything you would have done differently now that you’re finished?

Any suggestions or help about the course would be greatly appreciated! Great job on your portfolio and I look forward to hearing from you!

I am taking the MSU Capstone course this summer and as you know, one of our first missions is to contact the creator of a portfolio that we really connected with in our initial exploration. I chose yours for several reasons.

First of all, I loved the fact that you separated your personal self from your teacher self in your About section. I know it seems like a little thing, but as teachers we so often identify ourselves based on our teaching. This separation was a good way to explain to people how you as a person informs you as a teacher. This may not have been what you were going for, but that is how it impacted me. I also loved the variety of photos you had both of personal and professional.

I also really appreciated the clean design of your pages and the fact that you used a vertical representation of your transcript and showcase. It made the entire page look cleaner and allowed the reader to see how your coursework built up to your final experiences with the capstone course. I also liked your inclusion of a description of coursework that challenged you to get outside your comfort zone. I think that is an important skill that teachers need to have and you highlighted your ability to do that.

What advice do you have for me going forward on this journey? Was there a reason you chose the tech tool that you did for your project? Are there any tips or tricks you found in your experience that might help make mine more meaningful?

Thanks so much for being willing to share your work with us. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from you.

Hello, I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. First I loved finding another middle school teacher! I also teach middle schools so I could relate to how you talked about your students!

I really like the presentation of your portfolio when you first arrive at your portfolio because it is so professional and stood out among the other portfolios I viewed. It was visually appealing and immediately told me what your focus was for your masters program. Your portfolio was very easy to navigate and to find a lot of information about your experience and knowledge of technology. My favorite section was your “Tech tips!” This was a really unique way to show your knowledge of technology and how you used it in your classroom. I found some resources that I am now going to try in my classroom!

A few things I was wondering about your process was how did you decide what specifically to include in your portfolio about your knowledge and experience? I saw that you used Weebly for your portfolio. Why did you choose Weebly over the other resources? What overall advice do you have about making a portfolio? I am really excited to learn how to create an online portfolio and any advice you can give me will be much appreciated!

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because it was so easy to navigate and very professional and visually appealing. I am a special education teacher for students in Kindergarten-5th grade. I really appreciated how I didn’t even need to go to the top to navigate the three most important sections, which were in circles next to your picture. My eyes went right to those circles and it was very easy to navigate from there. Once I clicked on your circles, I was really impressed with your pictures, they added so much to your website. I honestly don’t always gravitate towards reading, but the pictures made me want to know more about you, your students/classroom, and your past projects. I absolutely loved your section about your classroom environment. The images and description of each station in your room really made your teaching stations stand out.

Before this course had you used a wix site before? Also, were there any other websites that you considered using? I have never used wix before, but I am seriously considering using it because of the professional and visually appealing opportunities it seems to offer. Were you pleased with how the process was to complete your portfolio? Was there anything you would do differently or that you didn’t like about the wix site? I am nervous about remembering all I have learned in my previous courses and to pull it all together for the portfolio, do you have any suggestions for me starting out?

Hi Kaitlinn,
My name is Erin and I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because I really liked the layout of your page and the look. It was really easy to find information and you didn’t use patterns for backgrounds that were difficult to see through. I also really liked to the look of your resume and the logos on the left hand side. I would like my resume to share some of the same characteristics. In your showcase, I liked that assignments for different areas were in different tabs, I did not see that in many of the other portfolios I looked at. The separation of topics for assignments made this part easy to navigate as well.
How did you learn to publish the website? Were there any aspects of it that were more difficult or took more time to get the hang of than others? I have never used WiX before, but from the portfolios I looked through it seems like a user friendly site. Do you have recommendations or advice for someone just starting the process of creating an online portfolio? I am kind of nervous because I do not have much experience with publishing websites.
Thank you for sharing your work!
Erin Benton

Hi
I am currently taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and as you are aware the first ‘mission’ is to browse previous portfolios and email the person whose portfolio we like the most.

I have chose your portfolio as I particularly liked the personal touches to your site. I enjoyed the about me section and includes videos and pictures- I really felt as though I had an insight into your classroom. In addition I liked you tech tools and blog sections and felt they added to your site making it more than just a portfolio, and somewhere I and others could stop for ideas. I thought the drop down menus were easy to use and I appreciated your colour schemes and unifying features throughout.

With regards to your showcase- how did you narrow down your work? I’m proud of all of the work and am tempted to showcase as much as possible, however at the same time am aware that it should be the strongest and most insightful pieces. How did you begin choosing pieces? I also notice you chose a selection of work from one project, was this intended? Why did you feel this project was particularly strong?

Thank you in advance for any insight you are able to give me, I enjoyed looking through your work and wish you best for your future endeavours!

I am currently taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and as you are aware the first ‘mission’ is to browse previous portfolios and email the person whose portfolio we like the most.

I have chose your portfolio as I particularly liked the personal touches to your site. I enjoyed the about me section and its included videos and pictures- I really felt as though I had an insight into your classroom. In addition I liked you tech tools and blog sections and felt they added to your site making it more than just a portfolio, and somewhere I and others could stop for ideas. I thought the drop down menus were easy to use and I appreciated your colour schemes and unifying features throughout.

With regards to your showcase- how did you narrow down your work? I’m proud of all of the work and am tempted to showcase as much as possible, however at the same time am aware that it should be the strongest and most insightful pieces. How did you begin choosing pieces? I also notice you chose a selection of work from one project, was this intended? Why did you feel this project was particularly strong?

Thank you in advance for any insight you are able to give me, I enjoyed looking through your work and wish you best for your future endeavours!

Dear,
I am currently taking the Capstone Portfolio class and, as you know, we are asked by our professors to pick our favorite portfolio, and I chose yours!

I love how simple and straight-forward your page is. It is very clean and easy to navigate. Your story is so interesting and you did a great job telling it. Your writing is engaging and your personal pictures make it very easy to connect with you.

Did you find using WIX easy? I have not ever used it and I am on the fence between it and WordPress (which I have used before but don’t love).

Did you find making a portfolio like this worth while? Have you used for anything other than this course?

I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course, and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I looked at many portfolios and I chose yours because I loved the way that your portfolio was not only well organized but it also provided a very good sense of who you are as an instructor and the vast amount you have learned. Your showcase especially popped to me. The designed had a great flow but was also not overly linear and drew one’s attention to your great accomplishments. The media associated with each accomplishment was well thought out and contributed strongly to your overall showcase. I also really liked the Tech Tips section. After reading it I already tried one in my classroom earlier in the week! Really helpful and great demonstration of superior command of incorporating technology into the classroom.

I am curious how you learned to publish your work on the web? Have you constructed sites like this before? I really like the drop down function in your website as I feel it keeps the top of the page clean and not over cluttered. Was this something that you considered when you were creating your site? I have worked with weebly in the past but was curious if you would recommend working with any other web publishing tools? Also your showcase organization very much mirrored my own tastes. I feel that it did a good and thorough job of introducing your work without feeling repetitive. Its design kept my attention. I am most interested in how you chose the assignments you selected in the showcase? Were there a range of themes or skills you wanted to present? Did you use any specific criteria for it? How did you decide what made the final cut?

Thank you for taking the time to read my email and consider some of my questions. Go Green!

I am currently enrolled in the Capstone Portfolio Course at Michigan State University where I am closing in on completing my MAED degree. Our team of professors has directed us to review a large sampling of portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we enjoyed the most. I went through a number of prior portfolios and yours really resonated with me.

I was captured by the photography on the opening page and immediately connected with the overall layout. I found it unique and I very much liked the symmetry between the photography, the captions, and the navigation. Other intriguing aspects were the depth of your synthesis essay, the insightfulness of your showcase of learning, and your technological aptitude from the connection to social media via twitter.

I am currently a higher education administrator with a lot of marketing functions that fall under my purview. That certainly is another reason why I enjoyed your portfolio to such a degree. With all that said, and in view of yours and others terrific and comprehensive portfolios, I am certainly extremely nervous regarding the amount of work it will take to pull something together remotely to the degree with which you have done. With my crazy work life, time is a scarce resource for sure. I know that your time is a premium but if you did have a moment to respond I would greatly appreciate any advice you might could provide on how to economize the process and at the same time deliver on quality, and or any other thoughts regarding your experience in the Capstone course.

Hello,
My name is Lauren. I am taking the Capstone Portfolio Course this summer at MSU and the professor asked us to look at portfolios from previous classes and email the person whose portfolio we liked the most. I chose yours because it was so well organized, easy to navigate and extremely eye-catching.
While looking through the portfolios, I was very impressed by a number of them; however, I found that I continued to come back to your portfolio. The colors you chose looked great, the backgrounds were simple and drew my eyes to focus on your content and the experiences/essays you included were extremely insightful. One of my favorite parts to your portfolio was your showcase. The layout was very well organized and the short summaries helped me to gain an understanding of your work and navigate through the links efficiently.
Prior to looking through previous portfolios, I was planning on using weebly, google sites or wordpress due to my experience with these platforms. However, after seeing your WIX page, I decided to re-think my options. Had you used WIX before creating your portfolio? Did you find that using WIX to create your portfolio was easy to navigate/use for this project? Are there any suggestions you have regarding the portfolio creating process? If you have a chance to share any suggestions or tips, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thank you for sharing your awesome portfolio with us! It is so helpful to be able to see what previous students have done throughout their program and gain an understanding of what we have to look forward to in this course!
I hope you have a wonderful end of the school year!

My name is Sushma and I am an MAET student at MSU. Our professor asked us to take a look at portfolios and reach out to the author of the portfolio that we really enjoyed. I have to let you know that I LOVED looking at yout portfolio. Without actually meeting you I got a a wonderful sense of who you are as an educatory and member of the educational community. You have inspired me and given me great ideas on things I should highlight when developing my own portfolio,

I really appreciated the easy to follow navigation with the tabs that ran across the top of your page. With a clear font and several drop down selections it was easy for me to float back and forth between sections on your page. I also loved the use of color. As a primary teacher myself I value the use of color to organize information and catch the viewers attention. I think you’ve done a wonderful job with that.

My favorite part of your portflio is the use of the “circles” for thematic ideas and focal points throughout your site. This made it so easy to see what you found important in your experiences and what you value most (well enough to share with others). I think it’s simplistic nature with a purposeful visual is both eye appealing and focused. I think less can be more, so I appreciate there was less clutter on the page unless you clicked a particular circle.

Another great piece is the classroom portion of your about section. I LOVED the picture snapshots with captions that gave me a glimpse into your room. I think its important to show people what you as a teacher actually do. I would like to use something similar when developing my own protfolio. IAIn addition t found it both unique and special that you chose to upload a video of you teaching in action. It gave me a feel for you as an ediucator and how you approach teaching and learning in your classroom.

All in all your portfolio has both inspired me and motivated me to take a closer look at what happens in my room and how I can share that with the world. Thanks for being such an inspiration! If there is any suggestions you have about using wix or why you chose it I would be very interested in knowing a little bit. Other than that have an excellent summer!

I am currently taking “Capstone Portfolio” course through MSU and I have been instructed to notify a person (from a given list) who has an impressive portfolio. Not only is your portfolio organized, but the credentials that you have are diverse and impressive. I appreciate the fact that your education and experiences are diverse and this reminds me of what my own portfolio would look like.

According to your portfolio you started out teaching and then switched careers. What specifically drove you to make that change? Was this specific course a helpful tool for you to be able to accomplish what you wanted in a different setting? This is something that worries me. I have specific goals of gaining the experience I need to also be able to work outside the classroom. From the looks of your portfolio you have done exactly that! I truly enjoy working with children, and I find teaching to be incredibly rewarding. However, I can not ignore the other opportunities and experiences that different careers offer.

My main concern, as a CEP portfolio student, is organizing my portfolio to be accessable and attractive. I noticed that the majority of students used Weebly to construct their portfolio, but that was not the case with you. I’m wondering if you found the site you were using easy to operate? Your portfolio is both attractive and easily accessable. I also apreciate the fact that you have an array of writing examples provided. While looking through some other portfolios I could not find these writing examples. These examples actually give me a great idea of what is to be expected.